


Ether

by Lothiriel84



Series: There was this Bad Guy (let's call him Bad Guy) [8]
Category: MarsCorp (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Bogeyman, Creepy Fluff, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mentions of Myth & Folklore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 17:10:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16664845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lothiriel84/pseuds/Lothiriel84
Summary: When the blue expanse of morning comesYou sleep while I stalk the sun, like a baby





	Ether

“It’s done, Master. All of the children have been delivered safely to their home worlds, their threads woven back into the fabric of their respective realities. I believe this is it – we’re finally free.”

“Free,” Colin repeated, his voice barely a whisper in the stillness of the air. Two bright blue suns were rising slowly over the horizon, casting purple shadows across the seemingly desert plains; he fancied he could physically feel the flowing of time, every cell of his body buzzing with the beat of a tune no mortal ear could ever hope to discern.

“You know, I’m disappointed, Patrick,” he murmured at length. “You went against my explicit orders on this one. How am I supposed to trust you, when you go on to conspire behind my back – and with two tiny tots at that?”

To his credit, Mr Velvet looked appropriately abashed, though not quite repentant. “I’m sorry, Master, but it was essential that you knew nothing about our plan – not with the BGU reaching into your mind every night, digging for your deepest fear to taunt you with.”

“Still, you shouldn’t have let our David play such a dangerous part. Think of what could have happened to him, if the Big Idiot Upstairs had found him out.”

“Well, It didn’t, did It? And you know how headstrong David can be, when he sets his mind to something.”

He sighed, looking over to where David and Dave were huddled together, wrapped in his old dressing gown. Bless Little D and his gentle heart, but he was way too earnest for his own good – far more than his tender age would dictate, in point of fact. Well, there was nothing for it now, he supposed, an odd blend of pride and tenderness stirring somewhere within his charred, withered soul.

“Let’s just hope that both your assumptions are correct, and the BGU is either unable to break out of the Cupboard, or if It does, that it will ultimately cause the entire World Between Worlds to implode unto itself, destroying Its Majesty in the process.”

“We can but hope,” Patrick muttered somewhat philosophically, manoeuvring his huge bulk so that he was effectively shielding the drowsy kids from the unforgiving light of a binary sunrise.

“Well,” Colin forced himself to speak after a long pause. “We should probably get these two home as well. You know, let them settle back into their old lives.”

“David will never forgive you if you do,” Patrick pointed out, not entirely unreasonably. “Besides, their families would have long given them up for dead.”

“Dave might want to, at any rate,” he sighed, and resolved that he should ask the sproglets themselves. He couldn’t be sure he actually _cared_ for them, but if he did, then he’d better let them go – or at least, that was what he assumed a less selfish creature would do, under the circumstances.

The pale pink sand crunched softly under his footsteps as he walked over to where the kids were burrowed, both of them already nodding towards sleep.

“I’m not going anywhere,” David mumbled before he got the chance to open his mouth. “Not without you, and Dave, and Patrick.”

“What if Dave would rather go home?”

Dave barely even raised his chin from where it was nestled on David’s shoulder. “You mean, back to Mum and Dad’s?”

“Yes, Dave. If that’s what you want.”

“But – what about David?”

The ghost of a smile touched Colin’s lips, even as his heart sank at the implications of what he was about to propose. “I could always – shall we say, _persuade_ – your parents to accept him into your family. You know, as their honorary child, or something.”

“No way,” David cut in, sounding substantially more awake now. “You and Patrick are my dads now.”

“Guess I’m staying too, then,” Dave sighed, snuggling up to him. “But I’m still not going to call a giant spider my dad.”

Mr Velvet actually chuckled – a ugly, booming chortle at that. “Fair enough, kiddo.”

“Right. So that’s settled then. Now, let’s get you two down for a nap, shall we?”

“Hmm, sounds great,” Dave mumbled, half asleep already.

“Sleep tight, little guys,” Colin uttered under his breath, burrowing down into the sand, and gathering both kids to his chest.  


End file.
